“Big sis, that man passed out.”
“It’s fine. I got all the information I could.”
To summarize—
everyone who entered this place had already been sentenced to death.
And they had been smuggled out secretly.
Still—
how did the Empress know about this place?
There was no way she had entered personally.
The demons would never leave a human who came here alive.
Then if she had never entered, why was she sending people here?
How was she even transporting them into the abandoned hotel?
How did she know the box existed?
The horrible incident on the island occurred nearly a thousand years ago……
In the island’s past, the ‘master’ mentioned by the aide had been a man with an arrogant manner of speaking.
Could the Empress perhaps be his descendant?
If so, it wouldn’t be strange for her to know about the island.
Information might have been passed down through the descendants of the people involved in the island’s secret.
……Does she perhaps know we were stranded here too?
One thought led into another.
But I couldn’t find a definitive answer to anything.
Most importantly—
even if an exit existed, this bastard deserving of death clearly knew nothing about it.
He said there had been an entrance when they arrived.
But the gate vanished immediately.
No opening leading outside could be found anywhere.
Meaning even if I questioned these intruders about the escape gate, I wouldn’t gain anything.
The most disturbing part was that every intruder who entered this place was a death-row inmate.
……The game difficulty just became seriously worse.
Monsters weren’t enough.
Now we had to deal with violent criminals too.
Would heinous criminals obediently behave?
Absolutely not.
Criminals who had been sentenced to death for a reason would probably enjoy a place like this more than anyone—
a place where murder was effectively permitted.
Whether they could enjoy the monsters was another matter.
But our group was in danger.
Especially because the death-row prisoners weren’t wearing prison uniforms.
We could mistake them for ordinary people and travel together with them.
This is getting troublesome……
I needed to warn everyone and share the information I’d obtained.
Then again—
maybe I didn’t need to.
Because the others were far more capable than me.
They might already be gathering information on their own.
Besides, the demons would probably kill the intruders anyway.
That was what happened when they first entered.
‘Maybe I don’t need to worry that much.’
Once I felt more relaxed, I removed the unconscious man’s upper clothing.
Holloway’s bewildered voice came from behind me.
“Big sis……. What are you doing?”
“He’ll be dangerous if we leave him loose.”
I used his removed clothing to tie his hands.
I wasn’t sure how useful it would be……
Still, doing this made me feel better.
I deliberately stepped on the unconscious criminal’s face while grabbing the small banquet hall’s doorknob.
“Big sis, you’re not killing him?”
“I can’t kill people.”
“You’re serial killer Purple Princess.”
Don’t say that out loud……
I tried my hardest not to show how deeply embarrassed I was.
If Holloway noticed, he’d tease me even more.
“I lied because I wanted to understand what was happening.”
“Yes, Princess Purple.”
“…….”
Stop.
My face heated.
“You’re cute when you turn red.”
“Thanks……”
“I mean it. But were you sent by the Empress too?”
“You heard everything. Obviously I was lying. I hate the Empress.”
She irritates me.
I hated her even more because she constantly tried to tie that irritating Prince to me.
That was also why Princess Cynthia hadn’t viewed me particularly favorably.
The court was divided between the Princess’s faction and the Prince’s faction.
That made things even worse.
Did she seriously think I was going to marry that anger-management disaster?
A man who insulted me whenever he saw me, saying I lacked dignity and acted recklessly because I trusted my family?
A man rude enough that you could barely believe he belonged to the imperial family?
It made me want to cry.
I had endured because he was imperial royalty.
But his rudeness went too far.
When my parents and older brother found out, they wanted to flip everything upside down.
I stopped them……
Shouldn’t have.
“Why?”
“Because she keeps trying to make His Highness the Prince my partner.”
Crack.
The doorknob Holloway had been holding snapped off.
He brightly held the broken handle toward me.
“Huh? Why is this in my hand? Big sis, look! This doorknob is way too weak.”
No……
You’re just fucking strong.
“When you go back, are you going to marry that person?”
“I hate him.”
“Right. Big sis hates ugly people.”
“I don’t hate ugly people. I hate people with ugly hearts.”
“I like that about you too.”
Holloway said it brightly.
Then drove the broken doorknob straight into the floor.
CRACK!
My mouth fell open.
Holloway covered his mouth with both hands and pretended to be surprised.
“Th-The doorknob is strange!”
I couldn’t exactly ask him what the hell he was doing……
“……Let’s go inside.”
“Yes, big sis.”
At last, we opened the small banquet hall and entered.
Wine sat in glass goblets.
The walls were decorated with fragrant flowers.
Warm food had been prepared.
It looked almost no different from party halls I had frequently seen outside.
The frightening part was that no one was there—
yet piano keys moved by themselves and tableware clattered and shifted around.
“What is this place……”
“Looks like a party hall.”
Why does everyone always answer my questions like that?
Does it seriously look like that’s what I was asking?
For now, I needed to search for anything useful……
I hesitantly stepped forward.
Whoosh―!
The bright lights vanished.
Darkness filled the room.
“You think something like this is enough to make me afraid.”
“……?”
[Holloway tilts his head, wondering, ‘Did I hear that correctly?’]
You probably did.
“So you’re saying you’re scared?”
“Yes.”
“Ah……”
At that moment, cold air seeped up behind me.
It was enough to make every hair on my body stand.
My trembling hand tightly grabbed Holloway’s small one.
“Big sis, you really are……”
[Holloway thinks you’re cute for pretending not to be frightened when you actually are.]
I don’t care about those thoughts anymore……
“If you’re that scared, leave.”
“It’s not like leaving will make me less afraid.”
“That’s true.”
You wouldn’t understand my suffering.
Once a restricted room was unlocked, I had to investigate it even if I was terrified.
I stepped forward without turning around.
What is the number-one thing you should never do in a horror movie?
Look behind you.
If you look back, you die.
Even if someone slaps the back of your head, you must never turn around.
But if I’m really curious……
maybe I can glance sideways just a little.
Ssshk.
Ssshhk……
Something kept stimulating my curiosity.
The sound of long clothing dragging across the floor came continuously from behind me.
“……?”
[Holloway notices that your hand has turned white from how tightly you are gripping his.]
Kind Holloway.
―Shaaah……
“…….”
I heard nothing.
Holloway glanced up at me.
Apparently thinking something over, he suddenly stuck out his leg and tripped me while I was walking perfectly normally.
I went sprawling forward.
“Why is your personality so awful?”
“I didn’t do anything……”
“You’re the short one here!”
“Hmm……”
Strange.
Usually he’d get angry if I called his legs short.
“More importantly, shouldn’t you get up quickly?”
“Yes.”
There had to be a reason for Holloway to suddenly do something like that.
I put a hand against the floor to push myself up.
Squish.
Every hair on my body stood straight up.
“Big sis.”
“Is that Holloway’s thigh?”
“Why would my thigh be there?”
“Then whose is it? Tell me.”
“Calm down.”
“Calm down?! What does that mean?!”
“Ah. In simpler words……. Settle your heart.”
Do these people know that explaining the word as if I’m too stupid to understand it is worse than an insult?
Should I call him kind for carefully giving me an easier synonym?
Or mourn the fact that he apparently thinks I’m an idiot?
I clicked my tongue bitterly and tried standing.
But my hand sank into something soft.
A slightly cold mass of liquid clung to it.
Keeping my voice as calm as possible, but speaking quickly, I said,
“Holloway. Grab big sis’s hand and pull me out.”
“Wait.”
“Quickly! Pull it out!”
At the same moment Holloway seized my violently flailing wrist—
someone kicked me in the stomach.
THUD!
“Ghk!”
I curled on the ground from the intense pain.
“Big sis!”
Crunch!
A huge foot pressed down onto my throat.
I didn’t need to guess who it belonged to.
“Miss, don’t you think your prank earlier was a little too much? Damn……. I couldn’t breathe for a second.”
“I was hoping your breathing would stop. What a shame.”
I gritted my teeth and grinned.
The criminal looked indescribably ugly as he mocked me.
“Guess being Purple Princess explains your guts.”
“Ghk…… Haaah.”
Stop with the damn Purple Princess.
I’d groaned from humiliation and embarrassment.
Holloway apparently assumed I was in pain.
“Big siiis……”
He sniffled and held my hand.
In the middle of all that, Holloway even pulled my arm out of the squishy place.
I was so proud of him that tears poured from my eyes.
“My adorable little brother. What a good child……”
“Little brother?”
Holloway became cold in an instant.
I decided to shut my mouth.
[Would you like to use the Blue Ring?]
You mean it only blocks things if I manually use it?!
Write that in the instructions!
The mirror didn’t work like that.
Every item had a different activation method.
This is giving me a headache.
My complaining lasted only a moment.
Just as I was about to activate the ring—
“Get lost, brat.”
THUD!
The man removed his foot from my throat.
Then kicked Holloway.
“Ugh……!”
“Holloway!”
“Ahh……”
The instant I heard Holloway groaning somewhere in the darkness—
something inside my head snapped.
“Now there’s no one to interrupt us.”
He still looked like a child.
Yet the bastard had kicked him without hesitation.
I locked eyes with Anderson and spoke sharply.
“He’s a child.”
“I know.”
“He’s young.”
“I know.”
“You knew and still did that?”
“……?”
Apparently sensing something strange in my repeated questions, Anderson faltered.
I rubbed my throbbing throat and stood.
Then marched directly toward him.
I lowered my hands toward the belt around his waist.
Clink, clink.
The criminal flinched.
Then saw what I was doing and burst into booming laughter.
“Hahaha! Now that’s more like it!”
Holloway, on the other hand, couldn’t hide his confusion.
“B-Big sis. What are you……”
After unfastening Anderson’s belt, I gripped it so tightly my nails dug into my palm.
“If you did it knowing he was a child, I can’t forgive you. Do you know how carefully I’ve protected him?”
“Why do you keep saying child, child? So what if I hit some brat?”
That question alone disqualifies you.
I drove my knee into his center.
THUD!
Then shoved him backward.
He fell flat onto the floor.
“You fucking……! Why do you keep hitting me there—ugh!”
I pressed my foot down onto his throat just as he had done to me.
Then raised the belt high.
“I don’t forgive people who hit children.”
[Overwhelmed by rage, your Attack Power temporarily explodes!]
I aimed the belt directly at his stomach.
Then brought it down as hard as I could.
WHOOSH!
The sound of it cutting through the air was terrifying.
CRACK!
“Aaaaaaaaagh!”
At the criminal’s scream—
the sound of dragging clothes abruptly stopped.
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